Accolades and words of appreciation Monday helped James Gallagher feel "better" about his legacy as an Army Vietnam War veteran.

But immediately after the Veterans Day ceremony in which Gallagher was honored as Stark County's Veteran of the Year, he reflected on the ill treatment he received upon returning home four and half decades earlier.

"It doesn't make up for it, but it makes it better," Gallagher said after the annual event held by the Greater Canton Veterans Council in Westbrook Veterans Memorial Park.

A Perry Township resident, Gallagher, 68, served in the military in the late 1960s.

Family members and local political figures joined other military veterans in recognizing Gallagher.

"It is not everyday you can tell your hero how proud of them you are," Shannon Gallagher, the honoree's daughter, said. "I just want to tell you, you are my hero. You always have been, you always will be."

The Veterans Day event, attended by between 75 and 100 in the late-morning chill, began with the five-member Timken High School Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) unit marching in a present-the-colors flag ceremony.

A surpise booming blast from a cannon shocked those in the park.

Guest speakers emphasized the theme that the sacrifices veterans make is a tradition reaching back to the American Revolution.

"I would ask all of you to look at the names of the veterans on the (memorial) bricks beneath you and thank them today," said state Rep. J. Kirk Schuring, R-Jackson Township.

Gallagher, who retired from the family business, Gallagher's Auto Center, is a Purple Heart recipient. He refrained from speaking during the ceremony because of an illness.

But afterward, he mentioned how the military is providing better assistance today for war-time veterans when they return.

During the Vietnam era, "they left everybody go by the wayside," Gallagher said. "Nobody cared about us. Nobody wanted to talk to you if you came from Vietnam. You didn't get good treatment."